Dreamfields “Low Carb” Pasta

Pasta is typically one of the highest carb-containing foods you can find, and a big “no no” for any diabetic trying to control their BG levels (without injecting insulin). But through some wizardy best left unknown, Dreamfields markets their particular pasta as having only 5 “digestible” carbs per serving. After hearing good things, I was eager to try it out. So along with a jar of marinara, I picked up two boxes a few weeks ago. It tasted great, but what about the claims to be diabetic-friendly? My results? A pretty spectacular spike in my blood glucose levels. (Bad.)

Undaunted and desperate to add pasta back into my culinary repertoire, I decided to try once more, this time with a few things in mind:

1. Portion control – I used to eat half a box of pasta without a care in the world. My portion of Dreamfields the first time around was still too large to get an accurate bearing on its effects.
2. Skipping the marinara – I didn’t check at the time of purchase, but my (former) favorite pasta sauce, Newman’s Own Sockarooni* has a decent amount of sugar, especially when you load it on.

So about a week ago, I tried again, this time with a simple margarine and cheese sauce. I made sure to limit myself to a serving (a bunch maybe the size of a quarter in diameter, uncooked). The results this time around?

• 6:34PM ——– 62 mg/dL —— before dinner
• Dinner at about 7pm, give or take.
• 7:54PM ——– 116 mg/dL —– +1hr after dinner
• 8:56PM ——– 84 mg/dL —— +2hr after
• 9:52PM ——– 83 mg/dL —— +3hr

Groovy, no? I was running low before dinner with that 62, which muddies things. The rise (a 50mg/dL increase) isn’t that good, but I should have been in the 80s to begin with, and pretty much anything I ate would have elevated me out of the 60s which is a poor place to be.

The fatty margarine and cheese sauce would also necessarily slow the digestion of the carbs and the ensuring spike. But I imagine this factor was minimal since the overall curve was short and small. (Typically, fat will dampen the ensuring spike, but it won’t cancel it altogether, and you’ll still find elevated BG levels over a longer period of time with a high carb meal, fatty or not.)

So Dreamfields pasta lived up to the hype, at least in my case. As always, your mileage may vary, but it’s definitely worth a try for any diabetic abstaining from pasta altogether. (Or anyone on a low-carb kick for that matter.)

* that’s right, I (used to) like to kick it up a knotch with the SOCKAROONI… while contributing all profits to charity.